Death row Vietnam executive in 'shock' graft trial claim: Media

HANOI (AFP) - The former boss of a scandal-mired Vietnamese state shipping firm alleged he paid bribes to senior communist party officials to try to evade arrest, state media said Wednesday.

Vinalines chairman Duong Tri Dung, who is under sentence of death, was giving incendiary testimony at the trial of his brother, a former policeman.

Dung, who briefly fled Vietnam as scandal engulfed his debt-ridden firm in May 2012, gave a "shocking" account of paying large sums to a senior Communist Party figure to try to avoid prosecution, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre news website.

His claims were widely reported in state media, along with denials from officials.